NEW ARC

North East Wildlife Animal Rehabilitation Coalition is a 501(c)3, non-profit organization. We are a group of licensed wildlife rehabilitators, and these are the tales of the injured and orphaned animals we care for until they are able to be released back into the wild.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Our work is not all fuzzy and cute.

Once you see something, you can not un-see it. That is why I am going to tell you about a horrible case that came in Sunday now, and post the pictures tomorrow....so you will not accidentally see a nightmare you will never un-see again! You have been forewarned so don't open the graphic photos if you do not want to see it please.

Rehabilitating wildlife is not all cute little orphans to play with and feed and set free again. Once you get into this you are going to learn how terribly cruel people can be to animals and you are going to learn some of the horrific things that animals endure. It opens a whole new door of knowledge that can never be closed again. Ignorance is bliss....if you don't know all about these awful things then you can truly enjoy all the happy, warm, fuzzy stories and pictures and all is good!
Unfortunately we are not ignorant. Unfortunately sometimes all we can do is end suffering as quickly as possible. Unfortunately sometimes you become sick to your stomach because you were not able to end somethings suffering soon enough and you are haunted by what that poor animal went through before it reached you!

While Laurie and I were visiting our gang on the island, she got a call from a woman that found an injured raccoon wandering in the middle of traffic. She stopped traffic, scooped it up and headed our way. She said it's face was torn up and didn't think it had any eyes. That was an understatement! It was an older baby...maybe 3 months old tops. Laurie was the brave one. She looked at it first and immediately euthanized it. Based on her reaction....I really didn't want to look, but in the interest of learning I had to. The poor thing had no face left whatsoever! We still cannot believe it was even alive and walking around! There were maggots coming out of EVERYWHERE....every part of it's body. It was literally being eaten alive by them. There is no way to tell what happened to the poor thing....was it attacked by something that chewed it's face off or did it just get a wound that got infested with maggots and they destroyed it's face? We will never know. As you will see (if you dare to look) the damage was just too extensive.
All I know is I will never stop thinking about that poor soul...about what it must have gone through and how it suffered!

3 comments:

  1. I am just getting back to reading blogs and I did look- it breaks my heart. It is so easy to go along with our lives and not think of the cruelty that happens to animals- or even the cruelty humans inflict on one another- but I agree with you- knowing and facing it makes us more compassionate and better human beings. I am glad that lady brought you the poor baby so his suffering could end- she could easily have turned the other way and left him to a slow tortured death.

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  2. well, i went staright to today's post...saw the pictures through squinted eyes...and then came here to read what you wrote first.
    poor little baby!!
    i really can't imagine that it was a PERSON who did that to him??!! at least i'll keep telling myself that. maybe he was attacked by another animal? and somehow got away?

    so sad...but at least this woman found him and you got the call...otherwise that poor raccoon would have to suffer. now he is at peace. whole again.

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  3. It was most likely attacked by something non-human in this case....but yes....thank God for that woman! She really did go above and beyond and quite a ways out of her way to help him. People like her renew my hope in hummanity! :)

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